Telecom Alert - One-Touch Make-Ready; OSHA Tower Penalty; Broadband Privacy Order; Arizona RFP Deadline - Vol. XIII, Issue 45
FCC Supports Louisville One-Touch Make-Ready
The FCC last week filed a “Statement of Interest” in U.S. District Court in Kentucky stating that Louisville’s One-Touch Make-Ready ordinance does not violate federal pole attachment rules, since the Kentucky PSC, not the FCC, regulates pole attachments in Kentucky. The Commission argued that One-Touch Make-Ready laws are “consonant with federal telecommunications policy and the federal pole attachment regulations.” For additional information please contact Tom Magee (magee@khlaw.com; 202-434-4128).
OSHA Tower Penalty Affirmed
Last week, the Fifth Circuit upheld an OSHA decision penalizing a tower services company for the deaths of two tower workers. The penalty stemmed from an accident in 2013 when two employees were struck by an 1800-pound gin pole and killed at a 300-foot tower site. OSHA issued a citation of $134,400 against the company and later reduced the fine to $70,000. The Court affirmed the penalty last week, finding that the company exposed its workers to “struck-by hazards” and failed to properly mark the gin pole. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239).
Broadband Privacy Order Released
As we previously reported, the FCC recently adopted new rules for protecting the privacy and security of information that broadband internet access service providers acquire from customers. The Report and Order, which was released last week, imposes (among other things) notice and consent requirements for the use and sharing of “customer proprietary information” (a term that is broadly defined) and new requirements relating to data security and data breach response. The FCC also revised its existing privacy rules to “harmonize” them for all telecommunications carriers, and committed to initiate a rulemaking regarding mandatory arbitration requirements in early 2017. For more information, please contact Tracy Marshall (marshall@khlaw.com; 202.434.4234).
Arizona Extends RFP Deadline
The state of Arizona has extended its deadline for responding to a request for proposal for operating a public safety broadband network. Responses are now due by November 1st. The deadline was extended in response to FirstNet’s recent announcement that it would not meet its projected goal of awarding a contract for the nationwide public safety network by its original deadline of November 1st.
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Keller and Heckman LLP's Telecom Business Alert is a complimentary weekly electronic update created by the Telecommunications and the Business Counseling and Transactional practice groups of Keller and Heckman LLP. All articles, videos, and quotations are on topics of general interest and do not constitute legal advice for particularized facts. Keller and Heckman LLP's Telecom Business Alert © 2015. All rights reserved. Articles may be copied with attribution. To sign up for our weekly alert, please send us an email at telecomalert@khlaw.com and provide us with your name and email. Please follow us on Twitter at @KHtelecom.